Friday, March 30, 2012

Another New First


Another New First

I didn’t anticipate this one. My small publisher decided to pursue other activities in life. No, she was not arrested and no, she did not lose an election. She is just out of the publishing business

Now that she’s out, I’m in.

Because she is an honest person, she returned my unsold books. I’m more fortunate than many authors whose publishers have gone out of business.

Good news: The trade paperback version of Murder Manhattan Style is once again available. You can purchase it at my website http://www.warrenbull.com/ for $14.00.

Also good news: My book got great reviews from some great writers.

Praise for Murder Manhattan Style

I’d jump at the chance to buy this book

—Mark Twain

I’m going to learn English so I can read it

—Anton Chekov

Verily I say to thee

O’er this author

I shall not fawn

But I’ll steal his plots

For sweat revenge

As thee will see

Afore too long

—William Shakespeare


Warren Bull is a short story master, and his collection shows him at his best with quick stories told in crisp prose. There’s variety, drama, history, pathos, compassion and even Shakespeare here, along with surprising and satisfying endings in every story.

—Nancy Pickard, New York Times Bestselling Author


In this collection, Warren Bull takes his readers across the American landscape with stories of justice and injustice, truth and speculation; and humor and noir. The Manhattan in the title sometimes refers to the suave part of New York and sometimes to its prairie twin in Kansas. The stories are equally diverse. Bull writes tales of children outwitting their elders in the name of what’s right in turbulent Bleeding Kansas; of card sharks, clever dames and tough guys out on the town in the flush days of post-World War II; of an anguished husband and another furious father thwarted while seeking revenge; and a crime writer who really can’t handle rejection. Bull proposes intriguing questions—What if the ghost of Hamlet’s father wasn’t an apparition after all?—and moral ones—At what point is personal danger more tolerable than the loss of human dignity? Warren Bull is a thoughtful, gifted writer who blends history, language, pathos and a fine wit to tell terrific stories.

— Ramona DeFelice Long, author and independent editor


Murder Manhattan Style by Warren Bull is a collage of well-written stories as different as their settings, ranging from the Manhattan in Kansas to the town of the same name in New York with whistle stops along the way. Characters as diverse as a young brother and sister encountering crime and prejudice in 1850’s Middle America, tough-talking gumshoes of the 1930’s and 40’s Big Apple, to some who practice crime in the present day. Even a delightful homage visit with guys and dolls in Damon Runyon mode, those lovable characters who begin each day with the racing form and end it with whatever scheme looks profitable.

Wherever and whenever these well-drawn characters play out their stories, there’s more to savor than what they do and say. Underlying each engaging tale is a glimpse of what’s going on in their minds and how they mentally process what’s going on around them. It takes a practicing psychologist to relate that element so sharply and, fortunately for readers of these stories, that’s precisely what Warren Bull happens to be when he’s not writing fiction.

Highly recommended morsels for when you want to spice up your reading diet with variety.

— Earl Staggs, Derringer Award winning author and author of Memory of a Murder


"Witty, charming, and clever, Warren Bull’s stories capture perfectly the plains of Manhattan, Kansas, the mean streets of Manhattan, New York, and everything in between. His characters sparkle with humor and smarts."

Lisa Harkrader, author of Nocturne, a YA fantasy, William

Allen White Award winner for Airball: My Life in Briefs

Bad News: It’s up to me to sell them. I got a business license. I put up a Paypal button on my website. Does anyone want to buy a limited issue first edition?

8 comments:

  1. I have my copy, Warren. Read it from cover to cover in one sitting. I highly recommend it. Your range from the 1800s to the 1940s shows how well you write historical and your characters' voices resonate well after the book has been shelved.

    Ah, em...three of those "reviews".... I'm suprised Abraham Lincoln didn't have an opinion. I guess we'll never know what his review was, unless you're holding out on us!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Shucks, EB,

    I asked him for a review. He said, "It's the sort of book you'd like if you like that sort of book."

    ReplyDelete
  3. But, Darth Vader said, "As the most interesting person in the Galaxy and having my hands full with the misguided Rebellion, I still found time to read and enjoy Warren Bull's book."

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh, if I could only get reviews from Twain, Chekov and Shakespeare when my book comes out. Well, maybe they wouldn't be as glowing as the ones they gave you. :-)

    Your book is in the mail, and I should be getting it any day now. I can't wait to read it.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, Kevin,

    Your personal contacts are amazing!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Gloria,

    Those guys can hardly wait to read you. Thanks for buying my book.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Warren, I'm sure those books will sell right out with such illustrious blurbers. When Nancy Pickard is pratically the unknown among your blurb providers, success is assured!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Fortunately for both of us and many other, Nancy is among the living authors listed. :)

    ReplyDelete